1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of electrical connectors and particularly to electrical connectors for connecting flexible circuit to rigid printed circuit (PC) boards.
2. Prior Art
Prior methods of connecting flexible circuits to rigid PC boards consist primarily of pin and socket connectors whereby a line on the flexible circuit would terminate into a pin which is part of a connector assembly. Each line of the flexible circuit terminates into a separate pin in the connector. The lines on the rigid PC board terminate into sockets capable of connecting with the pins. The sockets are part of a connector assembly capable of mating with the pin connector assembly. Alternatively the rigid PC board lines could be connected to the pins and the flexible circuit lines could be connected to the sockets. The pin and socket method requires the pins and sockets to be mounted on 0.100 inch centers which results in the disadvantage of not allowing high density interconnect. In addition, the connector is bulky and can be difficult to assemble.
Prior art methods of connecting ribbon cable to rigid circuit boards or other electrical devices include use of connectors. However, such connectors are incapable of connecting the high density flexible circuits which may be connected with the present invention. Ribbon cable is also of a much lower density than the high density flexible circuit of the present invention.
The present invention utilizes a metal-on-elastomer (MOE) strip which provides the electrical connection between the flexible circuit and the rigid PC board. MOE strips have been used in the past to provide electrical connections, however, these uses have been limited to interconnecting two or more rigid PC boards, or for terminating high-empedance circuits such as those on liquid crystal displays. Previous use of MOE strips to connect flexible circuits to rigid PC boards was not possible because previous designs of clamping systems lead to cracking and breaking of the flexible circuit.